Guardia Guilty of Sexual Abuse

The provincial law courts have found an Almuñécar-born, Guardia Civil policeman guilty of child sexual abuse, sentencing him to 12 years imprisonment.

The victim was his goddaughter and the incidents of abuse took place between 2012 and 2015, with his taking advantage of the trust of the family towards him because of his condition of being her godfather.

On the first occasion the child was only 11-years old when he had sexual intercourse with her.

The policeman, R.R., who was suspended from duty pending the court finding, is also forbidden from approaching within 500 metres of the victim, and from having any communication with her during the next 20 years.

He has also been sentenced to paying 30,000 euros to the victim, who suffers from chronic anxiety, insomnia and hair loss. In fact, she is being treated by a psychologists and has been prescribed anxiolytics.

However, the condemned man can still appeal before the Regional Supreme Court.

The condemned man was tried alongside another Guardia Civil policeman, A.L., who was acquitted of a charge of corruption of minors – he was accused of offering the child 10 euros for oral sex, after they had picked her up in their patrol car.

The victim had never confided in anybody about what had happened until only three years ago. She decided to break her silence after she became convinced that the same fate awaited her younger sister after R.R. had suggested to her mother that he could take the younger sister to Almuñécar with him on holiday – this was exactly how it had all began with the victim.

As for the defence lawyer, he had suggested that the girl was angry at R.R. after he decided not to help her with the expense of her trip to the UK (150 euros). The magistrate, however, rejected this as it was very unlikely that the girl would have invented the whole story over such a motive. Furthermore, the evidence offered by the forensic psychiatrist belied this defence, too.

One further point; the magistrate took into account that the victim had explained that her aggressor had shaven off all his body hair, including his pubic area; something that he denied in court, but which had been confirmed by the policeman’s present girlfriend. Not only this, but the victim also stated that the policeman had shown her a video of him in a ménage à trois – again he denied this and again the girlfriend confirmed the sexual encounter had taken place and that it was recorded.

Editorial comment: this is yet another case where the accused was only charged with sexual abuse instead of rape as there was “no violence or intimidation.” How, could a judge not consider that there was an absence of intimidation?

Furthermore, it must be pointed out that until all legal recourses have been exhausted (appeals before a higher courts) the man is still technically innocent.